Post Doctoral Research Associate

This role offers an exciting opportunity for a structural biologist to apply their skills to drug discovery through generation and analysis of protein X-ray crystallography and biophysical characterisation of test compounds. The role will also provide the opportunity to learn and develop skills in structure-based drug design. The role is ideal for someone who has, or is about to be awarded, a PhD in structural biology and would like to gain experience of drug discovery. It would provide excellent experience for a future career in academic or industrial drug discovery research.

Based in the Structural Biology Section of the Newcastle University Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery Unit, working with Prof. Martin Noble and Dr. Mat Martin, you will join a vibrant multidisciplinary group of chemists, bioscientists and structural biologists working at the forefront of anti-cancer drug discovery with an excellent track record of successfully bringing new cancer medicines to market.

The focus of the project is the optimisation of compounds that inhibit a critical protein target that will lead to drugs for currently untreated cancer types. It employs cutting-edge structure-based drug design and property-based optimisation approaches to optimise compounds to drug candidates.

The Newcastle Drug Discovery Unit is a founder member of Cancer Research Horizons – Therapeutic Innovation (CRH-TI), CRUK’s exciting new vehicle dedicated to translating basic research into patient benefit. To learn more about CRH-TI, click here, and to learn more about our approach to small molecule drug discovery in Newcastle, click here.

As part of our commitment to career development for research colleagues, the University has developed 3 levels of research role profiles. These profiles set out firstly the generic competences and responsibilities expected of role holders at each level and secondly the general qualifications and experiences needed for entry at a particular level.

We are committed to building and maintaining a fair and inclusive working environment.

The role is a full-time, fixed-term (12 month) position in the first instance. Candidates who are about to be awarded their PhD are encouraged to apply. The start date will ideally be October 2025, but some flexibility is possible.

Informal enquiries can be made to Martin Noble at Martin.Noble@ncl.ac.uk or Dr. Mat Martin at Mathew.Martin@ncl.ac.uk.